Super Hero
by Aradatm
Summary: He knew he couldn't save everybody. But that still didn't make it hurt any less. Hotch/Reid.


**A/N: **This is a one-shot focused on Aaron Hotchner and Spencer Reid. It can be read as Hotch/Reid pairing romantically or as friendship.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Criminal Minds.

**Warning(s): **One curse word, character-death, can be seen as slash, ONE-SHOT, may have grammar/spelling errors.

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**Super Hero**

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**Summary:**

He knew he couldn't save everybody. But that still didn't make it hurt any less. Hotch/Reid.

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He was supposed to be a real life super hero.

Jack Hotchner had said so.

He was supposed to serve justice, protect the people; _win_. He was supposed to get the bad guys – _always_ get the bad guys.

He wasn't supposed to lose. He wasn't supposed to fail. Super heroes didn't lose, didn't fail. Aaron Hotchner wasn't a loser. He didn't lose. He didn't fail. He didn't give up.

He was supposed to be a goddamn super hero.

And Jack Hotchner, his son – his sweet and innocent son whom called him a real hero in the first place was supposed to be _alive_.

He was supposed to be looking up at him with that childish light in his eyes and praising him for stopping the bad guys. He was supposed to be with his sister-in-law at home, safe and waiting for Aaron Hotchner to come walking through the door and then race through the house to give him a big, warm hug that Aaron loved so dearly.

He wasn't supposed to be here, in Aaron's arms, cold and dead and looking awfully like he was only taking a nap. He wasn't supposed to be the target – a victim.

They (Aaron and his team) weren't supposed to get here too late. The unsub (bad guy) wasn't supposed to kill himself.

It made no sense.

It made no goddamn sense.

He was supposed to be a hero. He was supposed to stop the bad guys. Jack Hotchner was supposed to be waiting at home. His son was supposed to be alive.

He knew he couldn't save everybody. He knew that – there were often times when the case turned into a bad dream, a _nightmare _and he had to keep reminding (silently reminding) himself it – this – was part of the job. But that still didn't make it hurt any less.

That still didn't make it any fairer – how was a child (HIS child) being murdered fair at all?

"Hotch. Hotch! Are you – will you be okay?"

He barely heard the words – barely felt the concern that was laced into the voice. But he looked up nonetheless; meeting the steady gaze of Spencer Reid whom was now kneeling down so they were face to face (Aaron Hotchner didn't realize until now that he had been on his knees).

The rest of his team was behind the younger man, exchanging troubled glances with one another – Aaron could see the concern in their eyes just as easily as if he were reading a book (no one seemed intent on hiding the worry they all felt). The only person that seemed unreadable at the moment was the one crouched down across from him, Spencer Reid.

It was always Spencer Reid, the young genius – the man with an IQ of 187 and an eidetic memory.

Aaron looked down again.

Jack Hotchner lay in his arms, cold and unmoving.

"Hotch, talk to us."

This was a dream, a nightmare and he'd wake up soon – maybe the phone will buzz and JJ will be on the other end and she'd have another case waiting and he'd have to go into work (and the unsub wouldn't be the same unsub as the man whom murdered a child and killed himself afterward and the victim wouldn't be _his_ son) and then perhaps when everyone else got called in and arrived, Hotch would tell them about the dream in that deadpan he always did and they would tell him it was just a dream – that _this_ was just a dream.

But it was real – it felt so real.

He wanted to laugh, he wanted to cry. He wanted to do both at the same time. But he couldn't – for some unknown reason, he just couldn't.

Even on the brink of insanity, he managed control (if only slightly).

In a voice almost mechanical, Aaron said the only thing that came to mind.

"He said I was a superhero – that I never fail to stop the bad guys – that I'm the one that makes happy endings."

He didn't have to look up for them to know what it was.

It was a confession – he was confiding to them something that he never shared with any others since the death of Haley Hotchner.

While the others still looked worried ("Were they to be given a new replacement unit chief or would Morgan have to step back up because their leader may travel down the path of insanity" was on the tip of everyone's tongues) but it was Spencer Reid who snapped out of the dark, unpleasant thoughts first.

He knew that Aaron Hotchner was a strong man.

He refused to think that anything – even the death of his only son – could shatter the man.

This confession was the subtle hint they were looking for – that they needed to hear. It was Hotchner's way of saying "everything was going to be okay".

And then, as if reading his thoughts, Aaron Hotchner looked up.

"Everything will be okay. I need time. Just give me time."

It was directed at Spencer – he knew that because the man was staring straight at him. Spencer could only nod. He would give him time to adjust, to get well, to be their unit chief once all of this (whatever it was) was over.

If all Aaron needed was time, Spencer would make sure he got it – he would do everything in his power to give it to him and he had no doubt (no doubt whatsoever) that the rest of the team were in full agreement with him.

They would all give anything for things to go back to the way things used to be.

With that, the man was back to looking down at his son.

Spencer still couldn't read the expression on the man's face – that blankness had come down upon his features like a well-placed mask.

And while the others got up to leave their friend and boss to grieve silently for his son, Spencer stayed put – his feet seemed frozen in place. He felt the need to say something, anything.

"You know, Hotch, super heroes can fail too – every once in a while they actually do."

While it wasn't statistics that came out of his mouth, Spencer found it oddly appropriate because it made sense to Spencer, it made absolutely perfect sense to him – he always thought of Hotch as a hero.

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**A/N: **Thanks for reading. Review if you'd like.


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